Canceled primaries. Assassination attempts. Candidates receiving votes after dropping from the primaries. Candidates dropping out of the race.
It’s easy to normalize experiences that you live through, but, when you lay out what happened during the 2024 election, it’s hard to believe what our political system has become.
In a functional democracy, getting elected (or reelected) requires you delivering solutions to the people who are voting for you. But, because of the slow corruption of our political system by the legacy parties, that’s no longer necessary.
How did they do this?
First, they have made it increasingly hard for independent and new party candidates to even get their names on the ballot, let alone truly compete. With only two options on the ballot, it’s now a matter of just being better than your opponent.
Then, they have gerrymandered districts so that fleetingly few significant elected positions are truly competitive – by some measures, fewer than 10% of them.
They’ve driven so many people out of each party by their actions and statements that an increasingly large plurality of the electorate no longer belongs to a party. This trend has happened despite many states featuring closed party primaries, not allowing these independents to vote in any primary. The only people left to select the party candidates are the most partisan among the parties.
So, in short, the legacy parties have ensured they’re the only ones on the ballot. They split up the country, gerrymandering districts so that there isn’t real competition. Then, they drove anyone not bought into their agenda out of the party so that they can’t vote in primaries, ensuring party control over all aspects of our election process.
The two legacy parties have corrupted our electoral system so that it’s focused more on their maintenance of power than on delivering solutions to American voters. It seems a lot harder than just listening to voters and solving their problems, but here we are.
Addressing these structural issues is one approach to solving the problem, but, as we’ve seen, there are powerful interests aligned against them, and the two parties fight back every chance they get. They can spend millions to fight against ballot initiatives. They can pass legislation raising the bar for even getting the initiative on the ballot.
What they can’t do, however, is stop you from voting for better people. And so that’s what we are doing here at Forward – building the infrastructure so that better people—those who want to listen to you and your community and deliver real solutions for them—can win in this system.
Why is this necessary, and how are we going to do it?
Well, imagine that you want to run for office, but you don’t want to do so through one of the legacy parties. You will have a huge list of questions, and no one to answer them:
- For which office should I run?
- How do I file?
- Do I need signatures? How many? By when?
- How do I set up a website?
- What do I use to get donations?
- How do I build a volunteer base?
- What legal requirements do I have to follow?
- What software do I use to organize my volunteers?
- How do I figure out what key issues I should run on are?
- Are there debates? How do I get included in them?
This is just a small subset of the questions you might have, and the answer will likely lead you to even more questions! For instance, the two biggest donation processors out there – ActBlue and WinRed – likely won’t work with you, since you’re running as an independent. Many campaign consultants won’t risk working with you and losing their legacy party clients.
The Forward Party is fixing all of this. We’re developing the trainings, experts, and tools that candidates can use when they don’t want to jump through the hoops and conform to the litmus tests required by the legacy parties. We don’t ask them to promote the same policies; rather, we ask them to sign a pledge that they will govern by a set of values such as:
- Respect for the rule of law and the Constitution
- Fight for data-driven solutions to real problems their constituents face every day
- Act transparently and listen to their constituents
- Act with ethics and integrity, and treat everyone with respect and dignity
This approach shouldn’t be radical; it should be table stakes for anyone or any party wanting people to vote for them.
But, in 2024, it isn’t.
So we’re building it, and we invite you to join us.
Lindsey Williams Drath is CEO and Matt Shinners CSOO of the Forward Party.